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An introduction to the book of Job.
This book is grouped
with four other poetic books,
and it is among
the oldest books in the Bible.
It was completed by Moses
about 1473 B.C.E.,
toward the end of the Israelites’
40-year trek in the wilderness.
The man Job lived in Uz.
Shem, a forefather of Abraham,
was likely an ancestor of Job as well.
Even though Job was not an Israelite,
he was a worshipper of Jehovah.
Job was very wealthy.
He had many servants
and owned thousands of sheep,
camels, and other livestock.
He and his wife had ten children,
and he was highly respected in his community.
However, all of this was lost
because of a series of tragic events!
At the time Job’s trials took place,
Jehovah said that there
was ‘no one like Job on the earth.’
Therefore, we can place these events
after the death of the faithful man Joseph
but before Moses became leader over Israel.
The book of Job contains 42 chapters.
Chapters 1 and 2 reveal events
that took place in the heavens.
Satan challenged Jehovah
and claimed that Job
would not remain faithful
when faced with adversity.
Chapters 3 to 31 contain
several rounds of debates
between Job and his three companions:
Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.
Eliphaz ridiculed Job’s integrity
and implied that man is useless to God.
Bildad suggested that Job
was suffering as punishment for his sins.
Zophar harshly insinuated
that Job was wicked.
Job attempted to defend himself
from these accusations,
but in doing so,
he made incorrect statements about Jehovah.
In chapters 32 to 37,
after listening to what Job
and his companions had to say,
the young man Elihu offers wise counsel.
Then in chapters 38 to 41, Jehovah,
speaking out of a windstorm,
corrects Job’s thinking
with thought-provoking questions
about creation.
Did you know?
The book of Job describes the earth
as suspended upon nothing,
a fact that was not widely recognized
until centuries later.
In the final chapter,
God commands Job’s three companions
to offer a sacrifice
and tells them
that Job will pray in their behalf.
Jehovah then restored
Job’s health and reputation,
gave him double the wealth he had before,
blessed him with seven more sons
and three more daughters,
and allowed him to live
for an additional 140 years.
As you read this book,
pay attention to how this account proves
that Jehovah is not the cause
of human suffering,
how events in the heavens
help us to understand
the issue of universal sovereignty,
and how the outcome of Job’s trials
gives us a glimpse
of future Kingdom blessings
for those who remain loyal to Jehovah.

Introduction to Job